Martin Savidge of CNN, embedded with the 1st Marine battalion, was talking
with 4 young Marines near his foxhole this morning live on CNN.
He had been telling the story of how well the marines had been looking out
for and taking care of him since the war started.
He went on to tell about the many hardships the Marines had endured since
the war began and how they all look after one another.
He turned to the four and said he had cleared it with their commanders and
they could use his video phone to call home.
The 19 year old Marine next to him asked Martin if he would allow his
platoon sergeant to use his call to call his pregnant wife back home whom he
had not been able to talk to in three months.
A stunned Savidge who was visibly moved by the request shook his head and
the young marine ran off to get the sergeant.
Savidge recovered after a few seconds and turned back to the three young
Marines still sitting with him and asked which one of them would like to
call home first, the Marine closest to him responded with out a moments
hesitation " Sir, if is all the same to you we would like to call the
parents of a buddy of ours, Lance Cpl Brian Buesing of Cedar Key, Florida
who was killed on 3-23-03 near Nasiriya to see how they are doing". At that
Martin Savidge totally broke down and was unable to speak.
All he could get out before signing off was
"Where do they get young men like this?".

:patriot:

ohall

04-05-2003, 08:24 PM

Originally posted by WharfRat
Can't confirm this as fact with a link... but will keep trying:

Martin Savidge of CNN, embedded with the 1st Marine battalion, was talking
with 4 young Marines near his foxhole this morning live on CNN.
He had been telling the story of how well the marines had been looking out
for and taking care of him since the war started.
He went on to tell about the many hardships the Marines had endured since
the war began and how they all look after one another.
He turned to the four and said he had cleared it with their commanders and
they could use his video phone to call home.
The 19 year old Marine next to him asked Martin if he would allow his
platoon sergeant to use his call to call his pregnant wife back home whom he
had not been able to talk to in three months.
A stunned Savidge who was visibly moved by the request shook his head and
the young marine ran off to get the sergeant.
Savidge recovered after a few seconds and turned back to the three young
Marines still sitting with him and asked which one of them would like to
call home first, the Marine closest to him responded with out a moments
hesitation " Sir, if is all the same to you we would like to call the
parents of a buddy of ours, Lance Cpl Brian Buesing of Cedar Key, Florida
who was killed on 3-23-03 near Nasiriya to see how they are doing". At that
Martin Savidge totally broke down and was unable to speak.
All he could get out before signing off was
"Where do they get young men like this?".

:patriot:

The ME generation is officially dead, thank God. This is GREAT to read about, I'm sorry I missed it. Just reading it makes me feel teary eyed and proud of these young men and women that are there sacraficing possibly their lives to keep this country free and to free Iraq.

Simply amazing, but they may be as giving as the WW2 bunch of kids who fought for our freedom back then.

Oliver...

themole

04-06-2003, 12:26 AM

Originally posted by Oliver
The ME generation is officially dead, thank God. This is GREAT to read about, I'm sorry I missed it. Just reading it makes me feel teary eyed and proud of these young men and women that are there sacraficing possibly their lives to keep this country free and to free Iraq.

Simply amazing, but they may be as giving as the WW2 bunch of kids who fought for our freedom back then.

Oliver...

Military Basic Training and A.I.T. removes the ME from the indivdual and instills team work and self sacrifice for the good of the whole.

The U.S.Army...Has an Army of "one" in accord.

The USMC... is looking for a "Few Good Men" that they might build them in "Body,Mind and Spirit"

We sit back on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and watch these same concepts come into play in the game "of football",that we so dearly love.

Its tactics and strategies are basically the same. Only... the stakes are much higher in the game our service men play. It's not touch downs or first downs that make hereos. It's often times the selfless sacrifice of ones life that determines the outcome of the skirmish.

I came to understand this fact through the supreme sacrifice of:

Marine Lance Corporal, "Mathew E Greer" who... on his second tour of duty in the Republic of Viet Nam, selflessly sacrificed his life in 1968, so that his squad could live to fight another day.

Silver Star...Posthumously :cry: My best friend.:patriot:

WharfRat

04-06-2003, 01:28 AM

Originally posted by themole
Military Basic Training and A.I.T. removes the ME from the indivdual and instills team work and self sacrifice for the good of the whole.

The U.S.Army...Has an Army of "one" in accord.

The USMC... is looking for a "Few Good Men" that they might build them in "Body,Mind and Spirit"

We sit back on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and watch these same concepts come into play in the game "of football",that we so dearly love.

Its tactics and strategies are basically the same. Only... the stakes are much higher in the game our service men play. It's not touch downs or first downs that make hereos. It's often times the selfless sacrifice of ones life that determines the outcome of the skirmish.

I came to understand this fact through the supreme sacrifice of:

Marine Lance Corporal, "Mathew E Greer" who... on his second tour of duty in the Republic of Viet Nam, selflessly sacrificed his life in 1968, so that his squad could live to fight another day.

Silver Star...Posthumously :cry: My best friend.:patriot:

Well said Mole!! and I salute Lance Corporal Greer :patriot:

BTW...there's a thread for you in the Lounge!

themole

04-06-2003, 02:34 AM

Thanks Wharf!....Matt was one tough Marine.

The last time we spoke was when he was home on leave convalesing from a pretty nasty gut wound. He told me that he was going back and knew he wouldn't come home alive.

He was a man that truly understood what "Live free or die" meant... and gave his life to that end.

I loved Mathew Greer! A friend...a Patriot...A HERO! In the truest sense of the word.

:patriot:

PhinPhan1227

04-07-2003, 09:34 AM

Originally posted by themole
Military Basic Training and A.I.T. removes the ME from the indivdual and instills team work and self sacrifice for the good of the whole.

The U.S.Army...Has an Army of "one" in accord.

The USMC... is looking for a "Few Good Men" that they might build them in "Body,Mind and Spirit"

We sit back on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and watch these same concepts come into play in the game "of football",that we so dearly love.

Its tactics and strategies are basically the same. Only... the stakes are much higher in the game our service men play. It's not touch downs or first downs that make hereos. It's often times the selfless sacrifice of ones life that determines the outcome of the skirmish.

I came to understand this fact through the supreme sacrifice of:

Marine Lance Corporal, "Mathew E Greer" who... on his second tour of duty in the Republic of Viet Nam, selflessly sacrificed his life in 1968, so that his squad could live to fight another day.

Silver Star...Posthumously :cry: My best friend.:patriot:

Lol....one big difference....our guys in BDU's don't slack off after a "contract year", always have their team-mates back, and CHOOSE to play on the first team. GO ARMY!

LeftCoastPhin

04-07-2003, 12:15 PM

I only wish the rest of our society wasn't ME first. But alas, this is positive news about our troops and THEY, not politicians lead the way for this country.

LeftCoastPhin

04-07-2003, 12:27 PM

Originally posted by LeftCoastPhin
I only wish the rest of our society wasn't ME first. But alas, this is positive news about our troops and THEY, not politicians lead the way for this country.

For some reason, I just thought of one of my Drill Sgts in Basic Training. To me, and most other recruits, they are Gods. Not literally, but you know what I mean. I kept waiting for them to walk on water. That's one of the many reasons why my confidence is so high in our forces, I've seem them in action. Anyway, I was in one of the "new age" platoons and we actually got to take the bus out to the ranges instead of humping it like the old school recruits did. :rolleyes: Sorry, but I didn't make the rules, I just followed them. Anyway, our bus driver was this fat slob and she wasn't a very good driver. I heard our Drill SGT mutter under his breath, but yet loud enough for a few to hear: God, I hate civilians, no discipline mother f'kers. I was taken back, I thought how could he spend his life defending people that he despised? Of course, there are those that he likes, but more importantly he loves his country and his family, even if it means defending dirtbags with no discipline. I guess that's when I fully realized what selfless service was all about.

PhinPhan1227

04-07-2003, 01:07 PM

Lol....one of my Drill Sgts had just come off a rotation as a RIP(Ranger Indoctrination Program) Instructor. We didn't think of him as a God....more of a Demon....:) Then there was our Company CO. HE had just come out of an SF Battalion. By the end of Basic we had the Brigade 1st Sgt "escorting" us on road marches because the pace the Company CO was setting had caused so many stress fractures in recruites feet that they said they couldn't afford to "break" any more of us. Funny thing is, I actually enjoyed Basic. Hated road marches, but that's why I went 11H...TOW actually stands for "Tired Of Walking"..

LeftCoastPhin

04-07-2003, 02:23 PM

Originally posted by PhinPhan1227
Lol....one of my Drill Sgts had just come off a rotation as a RIP(Ranger Indoctrination Program) Instructor. We didn't think of him as a God....more of a Demon....:) Then there was our Company CO. HE had just come out of an SF Battalion. By the end of Basic we had the Brigade 1st Sgt "escorting" us on road marches because the pace the Company CO was setting had caused so many stress fractures in recruites feet that they said they couldn't afford to "break" any more of us. Funny thing is, I actually enjoyed Basic. Hated road marches, but that's why I went 11H...TOW actually stands for "Tired Of Walking"..

11H huh? Hoooah! I went in as a 75B (admin clerk, knee problems showed up in my physical, not that I have anything against pencil pushers) in the National Guard. My battalion was Mech Infantry and my unit specialized in the TOW, while the rest of the battalion were 11B grunts. I thought the TOW was pretty cool so I asked to go to the AIT for it and went to Camp Robinson and came back an 11H. Tired of Walking is right!

PhinPhan1227

04-07-2003, 02:37 PM

I did my Basic and AIT at Benning, and was with the 10th Mountain. Funny thing was, they phased the 11H MOS out soon after I got out of Basic, but they grandfathered me so I didn't have to go back and get the 11M(Bradley) designation. The TOW was fun, but the Mk-19 was easily my favorite.

LeftCoastPhin

04-07-2003, 02:44 PM

Originally posted by PhinPhan1227
I did my Basic and AIT at Benning, and was with the 10th Mountain. Funny thing was, they phased the 11H MOS out soon after I got out of Basic, but they grandfathered me so I didn't have to go back and get the 11M(Bradley) designation. The TOW was fun, but the Mk-19 was easily my favorite.

One of my good friends from the guard went active after completing ROTC with his MOS being Field Artillery. He is now with the 10th mountain, stationed in Ft. Drum. He just got back from Kosovo, I'm not sure what their involvement is in the Iraq war? Do you know? I just know he's still at Drum, but that might be because he just got back from a year long deployment in Kosovo.

BTW, I honestly dont know what the MK-19 does. Is that the Dragon? If you describe it, I probably will remember.

PhinPhan1227

04-07-2003, 04:05 PM

MK-19 is an automatic grenade launcher. Looks like a stubby .50cal. If you watch the evening news, you'll see one on every 4th or 5th HMMWV. I haven't checked lately, but I don't think 10th Mountain is doing much if anything in Iraq, but I'm almost sure they're active in Afghanistan. Not much use for a mountain unit in a flat desert..:)